


Progress

by Ononymous



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Future, Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Pre-Undertale, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 12:50:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18521881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Asgore and Toriel have been around for a very long time. Much has changed. They've long stopped asking what they'll think of next, for they've run out of answers. The journey is more than enough for them.





	Progress

A single candle rested silently on the table, struggling ever more valiantly to keep the darkness at bay, to provide at least part of the empty room with light, however futile that appeared. Even though it looked as though it would consume its wick in mere minutes, it was in no danger of being extinguished, for it was no ordinary flame atop the waxy stump. This was proven when the sound of a door opening preceded a brief breeze, and though the flame was buffeted around, it showed no sign of joining the darkness.

"Is that you, Gorey?"

"Yes, honey. Oof..."

A half-shadowed bulk entered the room, taking great care with what it was carrying. The candlelight did little to reveal the features of the figure, for his cargo shielded him from the light. Only large white hands were discernible as he deposited his burden on the table with an audible clunk. The noise was a cue for a slightly smaller figure to enter the room from another doorway, their features in shadow cast by lights from the room beyond. The figure waved her hand, and the dozen or so candles hiding in the iron chandelier above them flicked into life, as did the three above the fireplace, and the fireplace itself suddenly burst into flames. The dark outlines of the two people in the rooms flooded with colour and detail. Purple clothes, white fur, a golden mane of hair beneath a tiny golden crown, and eyes reflecting flames that had nothing to do with the candles. The King and Queen approached swiftly and embraced, lightly nuzzling each other.

"I was getting a start on dinner," said Toriel, "Daaron dropped his complaint about Woshington, so I no longer needed to arbitrate."

Asgore sniffed the air deeply. "It smells wonderful, Tori. But it was my turn today, you could have done some reading while you waited."

"Oh," she dismissed the suggestion with her hand, "I know how tedious the council can be at times."

"Hmm," he acknowledged, reluctant to do so for fear of upsetting said council. "I suppose I will be on cooking duty two days in a row, then."

"If you insist," she teased, "if you do not feel your duties should be carried out piece _meal_ like that."

His pained grimace was too forced to be taken seriously, and sure enough he joined in her chuckling, hand resting affectionately on her cheek.

"Before dinner," he said, "I want you to look at this."

He gestured to the table, where what he had been carrying cast odd shadows on the wall as the single table-bound candle flickered slightly. It was a peculiar metal framework, not unlike the chandelier above them, with a byzantine arrangement of pipes attached to something like a cooking pot at the bottom, with jagged wheels locked together near the top, all leading to a hub with four wooden blades attached to it. Toriel examined the pot, found a catch for its lid and opened it up to see ordinary water inside it.

"This... it looks like a windmill," she said, "but the Underground never had the kind of wind that could operate one."

"I thought so too, dear, but it appears we had it backwards. The good Doctor showed-"

"I miss windmills. I miss the wind, even."

Toriel dipped her head. Asgore used his hand to guide it upwards again, and their eyes met, understanding of their plight reaffirmed without words. Grateful for his act, she silently allowed him to continue.

"The good Doctor showed this to me after the council meeting broke up," he said. "Something he found in Waterfall inspired him."

"Another sheaf of pages from a ruined book? How strange what the humans will discard near us."

"Indeed. Anyway..." He replaced the lid on the pot and closed the latch. "Go on, heat it. As if you were cooking something."

Intrigued, she obeyed, placing a hand beneath the pot and a small but intense flame erupted from it. It didn't take long for the bubbling noise to reach their floppy ears as the water reached a boil. And then...

"Oh, it is moving!"

What she had mistaken for a windmill had begun to rotate. Not particularly fast, but the fact of its movement at all was more than enough to marvel at. She studied the mechanism carefully, and realised the jagged wheels were actually gears, and she traced their connections as they turned clockwise and counter-clockwise until she spotted one with maybe twenty blades, sticking into one of the pipes. From this junction her eye followed the pipe to the top of the contraption, where steam was puffing quietly from an exhaust towards the ceiling.

"So many times I've accidentally boiled away all the water when trying to cook something," chortled Asgore, "and it turns out we could use it!"

"Yes, but... what good does this device do, beyond provide novelty, Asgore?"

"Well the Doctor called it a 'proof of concept', Toriel, to demonstrate the idea of using steam like this. He spoke of machines that could assist with mining and excavation, and so our efforts at construction wouldn't be bottlenecked by relying on specific magic."

"I see," she said, clearly engaged, "what a wonderful idea. He said humans devised it? I can only imagine what strange devices they've built."

"Indeed. There was only one problem as I could see."

"Hmm?"

"Which of us would have to boil the water? I'd hate for the other needs of the kingdom to go neglected while we man the boiler."

Toriel considered the problem. "Well, could we not use natural heat, like the lava of Hotland? That way neither of us are shackled to it."

Asgore's eyes sparkled. "A wonderful suggestion, Tori. I'll bring it up with him tomorrow."

"I think you mean I shall," she said, frowning, "for somebody has to make dinner tomorrow."

"Oh, golly, I forgot. Well shall we sort that all out after I help with tonight's dinner?"

She stroked his beard playfully. "Trying to get out of your commitments, Fluffybuns?"

"Not at all, Floppy," he retorted, "I'd just like to smell what you're making before we have to eat it."

"Hee hee hee, wise answer."

* * *

Some time later, the room looked rather the same. Still lit by the uneven lights on the ceiling and from the fireplace. The candle on the table however was dark and still, and a different device rested alongside it. One who had seen the model windmill might have noticed similarities, but there were clear differences. The labyrinth of pipes was smaller and more condensed, making it roughly half the size of the first steam engine. In lieu of the windmill, the gears lead from the steam pipes to a final one at the head of an odd cylindrical tube of metal, and at the other end of this tube two wires led out to a cracked glass orb sitting next to the candle.

"Well, Toriel," said Asgore, barely holding his excitement back, "give it a spin."

Infected by his zeal, Toriel obeyed, once again bringing her flame beneath the pot of water. And once again the water boiled. The gears began to spin, more quickly than the first model had all those years ago, including one attached to the tube. This appeared to be the limit of the effect, however. The tube did not move at all.

"What does this do, Asgore?"

"Patience, dear."

She watched the puffing steam and the spinning gears, the only sign of life in this experiment. They spun faster and faster, faster than she'd ever seen the windmill rotate. An interesting difference, but one without any context. And then something new. An unusual whining noise, coming from the tube, growing in strength as the gears turned. Clearly the tube contained some sort of mechanism affected by the spinning. Just when she was about to ask Asgore again...

"What is...?"

A light caught her attention. She thought Asgore might have lit the candle on the table, but it remained just as dark. The cracked orb next to it however did not. A coil of wire inside it was glowing, brighter and brighter, but not with the uneven quality of a candlewick. Soon it outshone any single candle, flooding the room with the sort of light only the sun could have offered long ago. Copper-red eyes widened in wonder at what they were seeing.

"Careful now-"

There was a quiet _fzzt_ noise, and the filament of the orb broke in two, overheated by the power fed into it. Toriel's flames also vanished in surprise, as she watched the wondrous light flee the room, the tube's noise fade, and the gears slow to a halt. It felt much darker than it had been a few minutes ago.

"Oh! I am sorry, Asgore, I did not know..."

He patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright, Tori. I broke four of his bulbs playing with this myself."

She made no effort to suppress a chuckle. "So how does it all work?"

Asgore took off his crown to scratch his head and recall what he'd been told. "Well, you remember those stones that kept getting stuck to Kuuderecarriage?"

"Yes. The Doctor said they were, what was it, magnetic? How do they work anyway?"

Asgore shrugged. "May as well be miracles for all I know. But anyway, he discovered that if he refined their power and assembled a mechanism where they rotated around each other, they produced a power not unlike lightning, though much weaker and easier to control. That's what resides in this tube, those magnetic stones. And then these bulbs were recovered from waterfall, and we're able to light them up. The Royal Engineer reckons we could even build our own. And that means-"

"Lighting!" cried Toriel, opportunities unfolding before the Kingdom in her mind's eye, "other monsters would not need to carry lit torches everywhere to see where they're going. I mean in Waterfall alone that would cut down on stubbed toes!"

"Yes..." absently he rubbed one of his toes against the ankle of his other leg. "And it would mean more than that. The steam excavators could be powered by similar means, able to handle a more consistent load..."

"...and that would reduce steam accidents." Toriel's ears were twitching as she thought of the potential. "This is a much better idea than having lizards hold wires for six hours a day. They get such awful cramps doing that."

"Absolutely, dear. And light. Something different than flames or crystals... it might give the people hope..."

"Oh Gorey..." she wrapped her arms around him. He'd been entirely right about the last part.

* * *

The room looked rather different these days. Not in choice of decoration, that had been unchanged since the house was built centuries ago, but a visitor could actually see it properly. Gone were the candles, retired to a box that likely would never need opened again. Instead two lightbulbs shone much brighter and more evenly than the candles ever could. The fireplace still crackled merrily, a sign of homely comfort the occupants could never do without. And the pictures on the wall. There were still a few scraps of banners and paintings from before the war, but three new ones looked radically different. Two were of the King and Queen on their own, looking dignified and somber. The third was both of them trying to suppress giggles as if they were children. It was as though a device had captured how they actually were in that moment. Such a device had indeed done so. One of the subjects of those photographs was sitting quietly by the fire, reading a book about tending to the need of flowers in harsh environments. He wasn't alone for long.

"Gorey?"

"Hmm?"

"Look."

He obeyed. Toriel had a dark device in her hands, pointed at him.

"Oh, did we recover another camera from Waterfall?"

"You could say that, dear."

It looked rather different than the camera which had taken the pictures on the wall. Longer than it was wide, and Toriel held it through an attached strap than holding the device directly. With some difficulty owing to her size, she pressed a button on its top.

"Well Asgore, say cheese!"

Asgore closed his book and threw his wife a goofy grin, any dignity wilfully abandoned. "Cheeeeese!"

Behind the camera Toriel's own smile widened at the sincere silliness of her husband. She didn't press any other button. "Hmm, I do not believe that smile was earnest enough. Try saying cheese spaghetti and bananas!"

Asgore's smile faltered for the briefest of moments, but her smile emboldened him. His fangs beamed at the lens, smile even wider. "Cheese, spaghetti and bananaaaas!"

Toriel snorted with laughter, enjoying their shared goofiness. Asgore kept the grin up for ten seconds.

"Did you get a good shot, dear?"

She finally pressed a button. "I got everything, Asgore."

"Lovely. I can't wait to get the picture developed."

"You will not have to."

"Huh?"

"Hee hee..." She pressed a button. " _Cheese, spaghetti and bananaaaas!_ "

Asgore frowned, more from curiosity than irritation. "That's..." he flinched slightly, still uncomfortable with the sound of his own voice. "You tricked me, that's a microphone recorder, not a camera!"

"You are still wrong, Asgore. Come look."

Perplexed, he hoisted himself to his feet and approached her, as she looked at a piece of plastic sticking out from the body of the device.

"Oh golly..."

It was a tiny screen. On the screen was a picture of Asgore grinning with no consideration for Royal Dignity. Before he could comment, Toriel pressed another button, and he heard Toriel's command to recite different foodstuffs, and watched himself follow her orders.

"Gosh!" His impressed tone tickled Toriel's heart. "It's like a super-camera!"

"They call it video, Asgore."

"Is that right? Hmm, so it's like..." he struggled to map this new concept to what he previously knew about technology. "They keep taking lots of pictures at once, to capture a scene rather than just a moment?"

"I believe so. Quite a marvellous advancement of the idea, and recording the sound makes it quite the illusion."

Asgore nodded approvingly. "Did Doctor Gaster fix it up?"

"Who else? And he already has some ideas on how to modify it to further his studies. Something about a thaumaturgical sensor attached to the lens, though I am not sure what that means."

Asgore nodded understandingly. "Better to just keep up with him, dear. No need to overtake him."

"Quite. Besides, there is something more important I must do with this video. Could you stand by your chair?"

Curious, he returned to the chair, and looked back to the camerawoman. It suddenly occurred to him how radiant she looked.

"I am going to tell you something important," she said, "and I want to capture your reaction. Are you ready?"

How could he be when he didn't know what she was about to say? "Yes, I'm ready."

She pressed the record button. She told him.

The royal guards stationed in the nearby barracks swore they could have heard the joyous laughter as though the King were in the next room. This urban legend didn't last long, as the King and Queen happily showed copies of Asgore's stunned, nervous and ecstatic reaction to her news to everyone they could. That a new member of their family would share in their good fortune.

* * *

Even more time passed since that happy day. For all their long lives, this era felt the longest. They reached the highest of highs, then were cast down to the lowest of lows, in darkness as though that steam engine had never crossed their path. But then with the help of friends, old and new, and a miracle as potent as the mightiest magnet, they approached their old heights. The platform was never as sturdy as it had once been, but as long as their family worked at it, there was no reason to ever dwell in darkness.

The living room reflected this. Granted it was not the actual living room of old, which still resided Underground, but given the Dreemurr reluctance to fix what wasn't broken, one could be forgiven for not realising that. It still had the same pictures, and many more accompanying them, the same books about gardening and wordplay, the same chairs by the fireplace, even the same table and chairs, and it appeared brighter than ever. But this time, no flame or electricity lit up the room. A window let sunlight do its work, and this made the room feel complete, like it had been waiting for this moment the entire time. At that moment, three monsters and a human watched a second human continue a demonstration.

"...and after we were able to carefully regulate the power flow the results were much more stable. Mister Dreemurr, Sire, might I borrow your glasses?"

Asgore scratched his silver beard, then obligingly handed his spectacles over to the plump young lady. She gently placed them on one of two pads. Three pair of eyes watched keenly. The fourth pair, the youngest monster, looked at a holoscreen his phone was projecting. The houseguest keyed in a few instructions, and the pad the glasses rested on glowed a golden-white colour, and the glasses vanished. A second later the second pad glowed a similar colour, and the glasses reappeared on them. The device powered down, and the operator returned the glasses to Asgore, who put them on.

"Any difference, Majesty?" She sounded as though her life depended on it.

"...no." She exhaled in relief. "Exactly as they were a moment ago!"

"A true teleporter," said Toriel, adjusting her own glasses and refusing to disguise her admiration, "quite the accomplishment, Professor. Might we...?"

"Oh, of course..."

She stood aside, and the middle-aged monsters approached her creation. Frisk got to their feet as well, nudged Asriel to encourage him to take interest in the presentation, and soon all four were crowding around it.

"A very efficient use of power," said Toriel, "some demonstrations outright cause our fuse to blow."

"And I didn't sense any unusual energies," said Asgore, "so it doesn't rely on potentially hazardous EM or magical discharges. But are these glasses the original...?"

Asriel's nose twitched in discomfort at such a question. "Hey, those circuits..."

"You're right, son, this properly compresses the quantum state of what's being transported into the signal, that preserves the essence-"

"-and avoids any Thesean Degradation, Gorey," concluded Toriel, "so those are definitely your glasses!"

"Phew, I'm glad to hear it."

"What's the range?" asked Frisk.

"Well this configuration doesn't include a quantum entanglement module," said Toriel, "so it is not truly infinite, but your father and I have seen this sort of transmitter before. With a little more power and given optimal atmospheric conditions you could reliably transport to another continent at least."

"And the old QE solution isn't incompatible with this," added Asgore, "so if Humanity ever gets those interstellar trips we hear so much about up and running it would be easy to get from shore to ship regardless of distance. Professor, you've done a..."

The family looked over at the Professor, who looked back at them in shock. Not in their appearance, for monsters had been around for years, but in their technical prowess.

"I... I didn't know you were experts in this, sir."

"Us, experts? Ha!" Asgore shook his head to dismiss that notion. "We've just had way too much time to wrap our heads around his stuff. I can barely fix a toaster. That reminds me: Asriel, could you help me filter my emails after this? I'm having trouble with spam again."

"Sure, Dad." He returned to his phone.

"Well, Professor Palita," said Toriel, "I think we would be delighted to help fund development of this device. The benefits to everyone on this planet speak for themselves. And we can put you in contact with Doctor Alphys for any engineering assistance."

"Oh my that's... Thank you. Thank you so much!"

She shook all their hands far too much - Asriel still looked uninterested but returned her shaking earnestly - then finally left the house to return to her hovercar. The four of them watched her shakily ascend into the bright blue sky, joining a slowly growing queue as rush hour picked up speed and lost its momentum.

"Technology sure is something, huh?" said Asgore.

"Absolutely, Gorey. Where would we be without it?"

"In a dark hole in the ground, alone and cold," said Asriel, carelessly twisting a white tuft of fur on his chin.

"I thought you would be more excited for things like this, my son," reproached Toriel, "this could benefit the space travel you always told us you were interested in."

"Oh he's excited Mom," said Frisk, "he's just trying to show how cool and unconcerned he is."

"How do you know, Frisk?" asked Asgore.

"His tail hasn't stopped twitching since your glasses reappeared."

"Frisk!" Asriel much more animatedly covered the offending appendage with his hands while his family laughed. "I was doing a thing!"

"Son," said Asgore, "don't go trying to look cool for us, it will never work. We've seen you as a baby. Since when was a baby ever cool?"

"Yeah, but..." he sounded flustered, if not oddly ashamed. "After everything I did... I'm definitely not that kid anymore..."

"No," agreed Toriel, gently stroking one of his horns, "you are so much more."

Asriel didn't look the happiest to receive this praise, but his yielding to a hug helped further undermine the tough image he was trying to project. Nobody minded.

"Now then," said Toriel, "shall I hydrate some popcorn and we watch some home movies?"

"Yeah," said Frisk, "how about when you told Dad you were expecting Asriel?"

"Can..." everyone looked at Asriel, "can we watch when I... came back to you? I think Frisk filmed it really well."

"Of course, son. And then we'll watch Gerson's birthday party."

"Which one? You've filmed like fifty of them."

The one-to-one solar panels on their roof shone as brightly as the teleporter had, while they planned the evening's entertainment and the discussion of inviting friends over inevitably got mixed up. Whatever the family's trials and tribulations, the wonders of the human-and-or-monster mind always ensured here was something new to do together.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
